Associate Publisher’s Letter: We must teach our children well

Ian Thompson, associate publisher of The Chronicle Herald, argues we are failing to educate our children properly.

We fail to adequately teach our children to read, write and count. The consequences for these Nova Scotians are catastrophic, and only slightly less so for the province. And, for reasons unknown, we’re indifferent.

Allana Loh, a mother of a child going to a Dartmouth school with abysmal results, raised hell in February. Two years ago, Grade 12 students in Shelburne did the same. In one class, students had had seven different math teachers in one semester.

These are battles being fought at the front. They put human faces on the facts routinely documented by, among others, the school boards themselves.

The consequence of our failure is clear. Those without adequate literacy and numeracy skills are doomed. They will begin their adult lives with few opportunities. Each year, those few opportunities will diminish.

These same Nova Scotians will disproportionately use the health system, the criminal justice system and the welfare system. In all likelihood, their lives will be less fulfilled and the individual opportunity costs and the cash burden to society will be huge.

There are already hundreds of thousands of adult Nova Scotians without adequate literacy and numeracy skills. There was a time when that was acceptable. Roy Jodrey quit school in Grade 6. In Harry Bruce’s biography, Jodrey describes school as a waste of time. He went on to make millions.

Those days are gone. Today, literacy and numeracy skills are essential.

In Halifax, there are schools where fewer than 10 per cent of students meet math expectations and, as Frances Willick reported in her April 10 story in The Chronicle Herald (part of an emerging series), virtually every school board in the province witnessed a drop in reading ability over the past year. These are not isolated examples.

And, even in the schools with good results, some experts believe the good results have little to do with class time. Rather, they suggest, these good results are due to what goes on outside the classroom, including as a result of commercial programs and private tutoring.

It’s easy to blame the teachers, the school boards, the parents, poverty or the “system.” It’s easy to say we don’t have enough money while shamefully increasing the salaries of hundreds of teachers who, without embarrassment, take nonsense courses that deliver nothing of consequence for our children. None of these is an adequate excuse for unacceptable outcomes.

What we lack is a focus on the evidence. We lack — inside the system and out — a determination to seek out the evidence of success and act on the evidence through innovation, experimentation, measurement and change.

Which communities are fed up and want to try something different? Which communities are determined to uncover the evidence that suggests routes to better outcomes? How many new approaches can we try so that the results can be documented and better choices made? Where are the parent-teacher organizations determined to shake up the status quo to achieve better outcomes?

The privately organized and delivered Pathways to Education program is an example of innovation that wouldn’t have happened without the determination of volunteers. The program provides tutoring, mentoring and immediate and long-term financial assistance. Seemingly, Pathways to Education is making a difference.

These sorts of programs worry some. Experimentation, especially in schools, carries risks. Fiefdoms can be threatened. But, when things are not working — and they are not — the real risk comes from not experimenting.

Our more competitive world owes Nova Scotia nothing. Nobody out there cares how many Nova Scotians are ill-equipped to live fulfilled, productive lives.

We’re the ones with high debt and high taxes. We’re the ones producing generations of children likely to fail at life. We’re the ones who should care.